and West, but of all the unfurled globe. The result is a love letter to a country and its neighbours, but one that gives a clear-eyed view of Türkiye and its place in a changing world. His own extensive time in the country and his roots there enable him to lift the reader out of old clichés of Türkiye as a 'bridge' between East and West, and Orientalist ideas that do more to obstruct than enlighten. Taking the large ideas of politics, strategy and history that govern so much of his writing, Sayarer uses the bicycle and its roadside encounters to bring everything back to the human level. At the end of his journey the reader is left with a much clearer understanding of the country and the roles of religion, race, Islam, and the essential and universal nature of political power, both in Türkiye and elsewhere.